Microsoft’s Origami Project, one year later

Posting from Los Angeles: It has been a little more than a year since Microsoft’s “Origami” project spawned its first wave of Ultra Mobile PCs from hardware makers. At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference yesterday, members of the Microsoft team led a pair of sessions updating attendees on the status of the category.

Samsung’s Q1 Ultra UMPC, launched earlier this month, in models ranging from $800 to $1500. The device has a split keyboard for thumb typing, and the high-end model comes with integrated mobile broadband.

The basics: Hardware makers are adding new features, such as integrated mobile broadband antennas, multiple cameras, GPS and array microphones. They’ve also been trying to improve other elements, such as battery life. UMPC users are clear in saying that they want at least four hours, said Vikram Madan, a Microsoft development manager, during one of the WinHEC sessions. Meanwhile, Microsoft has come out with a new version of its Origami Experience software for Windows Vista.

But the machines definitely haven’t taken the market by storm. Among other things, price remains a primary obstacle. See this story from today’s paper for more on that subject.

And then there’s marketing. During one of the sessions yesterday, industry veteran and consultant Geoff Walker pointed out that Microsoft seems to be focusing more now on the fact that the UMPCs are small Windows machines, and less on youth-oriented consumer scenarios. That message doesn’t seem to have gotten across to the public, he told the Microsoft team members.

“The media unanimously thinks that UMPC is a joke,” Walker said. “Now it needs to be repositioned as a small Windows machine. But that takes money.”

Responded Jeremy White, Origami Experience lead program manager: “We’re learning, too. This is a new platform for us. So we do something, we take feedback and we learn. I can’t say next week we’re going to have a $50 million campaign,” he said. “It’s definitely something that’s under discussion: How do we do a better job of messaging? We’ve been quite frank about saying that we probably haven’t done as good a job as we could have.”